Once phpMyAdmin is installed, it's best to deny access to the /phpmyadmin path from the internet as many automated scripts will be scanning your web server for potential routes into your system. I've seen this activity hitting my servers as soon as they are publicly available.

Lock down phpMyAdmin connections to allow from 127.0.0.1 only - we will use an SSH tunnel to connect.

Type the following command to edit the phpmyadmin apache configuration

sudo nano /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf

Enter the following in the <directory> configuration

Order Allow,Deny

Allow from 127.0.0.1

..then save and exit

Restart Apache

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Configure PuTTY to make an SSH tunnel when you make a connection to your server.

Browse to 'Connection' -> 'SSH' -> 'Tunnels'

Add 8080 as the source port and 'localhost:80' as the destination

Click 'Add'

This tunnel will be created the next time you connect to the server (click 'Open' now if you want)